Page 165 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

C [Maker’s name undocumented]
Canton
circa 1800-1842

The mark has only appeared on early examples of Chinese Export Silver flatware - the “Old English” pattern
examples [left] are typical.
The mark has always manifested as a
so-called pseudo-hallmark. Such marks
were almost exclusively a product of the
China Trade from Canton.
There has been a school of thought
since the 1960s that this mark was a
precursor to the pseudo-hallmark of the
Canton retail silversmith CUTSHING.
While there appears not to be any
tangible visual connections between the
marks, the flatware bearing the ‘C’ mark
is remarkably similar to Cutshing items.

However, reach has discovered a
remarkable resemblance of the marks of
the Canton retail silversmith Sun Shing
and the “C” mark, in particular the
pseudo-monarch’s head, the lion and the
shield and font of the letter “C”.

Research is ongoing to try to determine whether the ‘C’ mark was
an evolutionary precursor to later Cutshing marks, a precursor to
the formation of Sun Shing or whether it was a totally other entity.

A superb circa 1820 neo-classical lidded
sugar bowl carrying the silver mark ‘C’